I went to the show in SF last night. Six Organs opened for them. To be honest by the time I got there I still wasn't too familiar with the Dead C's music, so I really went more to see Ben. He did not disappoint at all. Beautiful guitar work. For the final number he brought Sir Richard Bishop up and they did a guitar "duel" as they called it which was amazingly beautiful. After the set I went up and talked with Ben for a little and he's a real nice guy.

As for the Dead C...well the first half hour of their set was good. For me though, it lost what energy it had shortly afterwards and the music from then on seemed a bit rambling. Maybe it was a bad night, I'm not sure. I still got their new CD though and am going to listen to it with an open ear and maybe I'll like it more than the show.

To me, the new Dead C stuff is too drowned out, boring Drone stuff, poorly executed. They used to be a band that definitley experimented with Noise and Drones, but they were ultimatly a rock band. To understand thier brilliance you have to hear "Trapdoor Fucking Exit" and "Harsh 70s Reality", don't worry about anything else.

"Sky" of "Harsh 70s Reality" has to be the penultimate statement of Noise Punk/Rock. The track does indeed rock; its sort of a fuzzy power chord track with really catchy drum patterns and high pitched distorted punk vocals all the while guided by tons and tons and tons of electronic and guitar feedback, this goes on for about 3 minutes (wow! a three minute noise song! a real song!), untill the last 40 seconds which then goes into nihilist Noise mode. amazing track. Then it leads right into "Love" which is actually reminescent of much of Neil Young's more Skronk-based stuff, but nonetheless with far more drones and an ever-present feedback fuss looming in the background which definitley ain't Neil's style. Nevertheless, an amazing one two punch for this amazing record.

Thanks! I'll have to check that out too.


My opinion exactly!

Do you want to hear a secret?

I think this is my favourite Dead C album yet. Holy shit, it's totally floored me. I was a bit letdown by Future Artists but this really hits the spot.

Out on 4th November:

The first in a series of DEAD C REISSUES being released collaboratively with Ba Da Bing Records.

With a catalogue spanning from the subversion of traditional song structure to stomping out and obliterating the very notion, New Zealand's The Dead C (Michael Morley, Bruce Russell and Robbie Yeats) have continually made the most crushing, expansive and intelligent rock noise ever to be heard. Just a glance at their peers who are fans (Yo La Tengo, Sonic Youth, Comets On Fire, Black Dice) shows the league in which they play.

(PLEASE NOTE: This Jagjaguwar/Ba Da Bing vinyl-only release, unlike other Jagjaguwar releases, is being distributed exclusively through Revolver Distribution and on the respective mail order sites of Jagjaguwar and Ba Da Bing.)

The Dead C
DR503 / The Sun Stabbed EP</B> 2XLP (JAG143)

http://www.jagjaguwar.com/thumbs/JAG143.jpg

SONG LIST:
---
DR503 (Sides A&B, 33RPM):
Max Harris
Speed Kills
The Wheel
Three Years
Mutterline
Country
I Love This
Polio
---
The Sun Stabbed EP (Sides C&D, 45RPM):
Angel
Crazy I Know
Fire
Bad Politics
Sun Stabbed
Three Years

The Dead C's DR503, released in 1987 (and not to be confused with the releases DR503b or DR503c, which are completely different recordings), sounded like nothing before it – a furious pastiche of unrelenting drones, noise and menace. It didn't fit in with the other bands New Zealand's venerable Flying Nun was releasing, and it immediately staked a fork in the road, dividing the "New Zealand Pop Sound" from it's black sheep brother, "New Zealand Noise." Today, the record still sounds as vicious and vital as when it first went to vinyl, except now perhaps there will be more people ready to appreciate the innovative approach the band took some 21 years ago.

This reissue also contains a bonus record of the rare Sun Stabbed EP from the same recording period. With bonus tracks not on the original seven inch, the recordings from the Sun Stabbed sessions are being released for the first time in their entirety.


The Dead C
Eusa Kills / Helen Said This</B> 2XLP (JAG144)

http://www.jagjaguwar.com/thumbs/JAG144.jpg

SONG LIST:
---
Eusa Kills (Sides A & B, 33 RPM):
Scarey Nest
Call Back Your Dogs
Alien To Be
Phantom Power
Now I Fall
I Was Here
Children
Bumtoe
Glass Hole Pit
Maggot
Envelopment
---
Helen Said This (Sides C & D, 45 RPM):
Helen Said This
Bury (Refutatio Omnium Haeresium)

Eusa Kills is The Dead C's second album from 1989, released by Flying Nun, the arbiter of the time for all that mattered in New Zealand rock. Considered by many to be their "songs" record, the band took the abstract sounds of their time -- those being created by such luminaries as Dustdevils, This Kind Of Punishment and Dadamah, and added their own dose of ominous aggression. Sneering vocals drift over improvised melodies and unstructured rock songs. One can hear the direct influence The Dead C had on Sonic Youth at the time -- mining deep into the underbelly of music to yield a truly intense and unparalleled sound.

This reissue also contains a bonus record of the rare Helen Said This 12" from the same recording period. Originally released as 33rpm, this is the first vinyl reprint, and will display improved sound quality at 45rpm.


Order HERE

i hope they reissue clyma est mort

Some audio + video from the recent US tour

Live recording for download on Archive:
The Dead C live at The Empty Bottle on October 19, 2008
http://www.archive.org/details/deadc...660.aud.flac16


On youtube:

Philadelphia
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XeEY4q26FM

San Francisco
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaqPsfbhzWQ

Chicago
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYOiQ60dTNY

cheers, any recordings of the gate show?

The new one is totally great and all but I don't really understand the mini backlash (ok, about 2 people) against Future Artists. I really liked that one, it was one of my favourite records of last year.

Anyway, looking forward to these reissues greatly.

i love dead c so?

i meant to say that without the ?

why don't you fucking edit it out then?

Scans of Dead C article from The Wire, June 1999 (.pdf file)

http://www.sendspace.com/file/rokdx3

Erewhon Calling:
Experimental Sound in New Zealand
Erewhon Calling: Experimental Sound in New Zealand is a lavishly-illustrated new publication from the Audio Foundation and CMR. It is a survey of how a bunch of antipodean misfits and malcontents have forged new ways and new reasons to make noise, here at the end of the earth. Edited by Bruce Russell (the Dead C.), in association with Richard Francis and Zoe Drayton; the aim of this volume is to survey the full range of 'non-standard' audio practices in contemporary NZ culture. The book's remit runs from the borders of composed art music, through improvised noise, to deconstructed 'rock'n pop filth'; and every genre, every scene, every permutation of unconventional audio practice in-between. The aim is not to be comprehensive (there is literally too much vitality and diversity for any book!). The hope is to 'throw a good handful of gravel into the pool'. While not every eel will have been hit, the surface will have been rippled from shore to shore, which is more than anyone else has even attempted before.
Erewhon Calling makes room for many voices, allowing multiple and possibly conflicting voices and points of view. A range of artists and informed commentators mainly tell their own stories, describe their own work, and outline their own goals in working on the fringes of audio culture. The readers of this important new source book will be able to discern their own meanings and make their own connections from this thought-provoking and unique publication.


http://cmr.net.nz/cmr28.html